Three Ways It Could Have Gone
by Angelamermaid
Summary: Three different alternate scenarios, to a certain dark and icy night
1. Scenario One

_Scenario #1 _

_Pen trach_, Cristina thinks. _That is so bad ass_.

She follows the stretcher into the Pit, eyes on the soldier with the bloody pants leg. Doctors close in around the patient.

"What do we have there?"

Cristina turns and speaks to the doctor coming up from behind her. "Middle-aged male with improvised tracheotomy. You should _see_ what this guy did!" Burke nods and goes to the patient.

**

She finally gets the Army guy - Major Hunt - into an exam room. He obediently drops his pants so she can examine his wound. They discuss how she will treat the wound - he turns out to be a natural teacher. And a little bit crazy - he starts to suture his own wound shut before she can numb him.

As she helps him close his wound, she realizes that he's flirting with her. She flashes back to the argument she had with Burke that morning and grimaces. She stands up, intending on informing Major Hottie on a few things. He's watching her, vivid blue eyes amused.

The door opens. Burke and Callie enter. They have questions about Hunt's suggestion of freezing another patient.

**

"Cristina, _what the hell_?" Burke charges into the exam room. Meredith, the Chief, and Major Hunt look up.

They argue about the icicle. She wants them to pull it out, everyone else wants to leave it in. They finally persuade her to wait, convincing her that she's not in any immediate danger.

"Only you could slip and fall in the path of a falling icicle," Burke chuckles. "I knew you'd do anything to get out of supper with my parents tomorrow night." Cristina notes the flash of surprise on Hunt's face as his eyes flicker to the rings on her left hand.

"I didn't do this on purpose!" Cristina protests. "I was planning on making up an emergency appendectomy or something."

Burke turns to Hunt. "Thank you for bringing her in. We're going to be freezing the patient soon, if you'd like to observe."

Owen smiles quietly and nods to Cristina. "Take care now." He leaves the room.


	2. Scenario Two

_Scenario #2_  
Major Owen Hunt smiles and declines the Chief's offer. He has to go back to Iraq. The Chief wishes him well and leaves.

Cristina sighs to herself. _Time to stop flirting with the hot Army doc. Too bad_.

He strips off his gloves and stands there for a moment. Then he closes the blinds.

She frowns as he turns around and - evaluates her.

"What?"

He doesn't answer with words - he simply turns and lunges at her, holding her as his lips crash down onto hers.

_Oh hell yes_. This guy is electrifying. He kisses her like he'd been alone in the desert for years.

She pauses and draws back a bit, staring up at him in amazement. She opens her mouth to say something about hardly knowing each other - then grabs his face and resumes kissing him. He chuckles against her mouth, wrapping his arms loosely around her to accommodate her wound, as she shifts closer to him. He ends up standing between her legs, as she presses herself gingerly against him. His amazing lips keep going. One of his hands moves to the bared skin of her back.

"Ahem!" They jump apart and turn to the now open door, where Meredith is standing.

"I came to check on Cristina, see if she needed a ride," she says with an amused smile. "I'll be outside." She turns and closes the door.

Owen grins sheepishly at Cristina, who is smiling and shaking her head. They look at each other for a long moment.

She breaks the silence. "You said you just got into town on leave?"

He nods.

"How long are you in Seattle for?"

"A couple of weeks," he replies, watching her carefully. "I'd like to take you out - but I will return to Iraq after."

She nods thoughtfully, looking at him from his bloodied boots to his scruffy copper hair. _It's not like I'm looking for a husband. We could have some fun and then he'll leave. He'd be the perfect rebound guy._

"Take me out," she says. He smiles and they exchange phone numbers. Meredith knocks on the door, so he leans in and gives her a quick kiss before leaving.

Meredith walks in and closes the door behind her. "_What_ was that?" she grins.

Cristina smiles. "I think I found my Rebound Guy."

"Excellent choice," Meredith says, helping her get down off the table. "He's _hot_."

"And he comes with a pre-determined expiry date," Cristina points out.

**

Owen is the perfect Rebound Guy. He takes her out to dinner, then brings her home and makes electric love to her. She walks around with a silly grin. She can't wait to finish each shift and jump into his arms. So she uses some of her banked vacation days. They spend them in bed. For the first time in months, Cristina Yang cares about something other than surgery. She cares about the sex.

**

"What is _wrong_ with me?" Cristina wonders aloud. "We used condoms and I have one fallopian tube, and still. _This_ happens." She stares at the pregnancy test.

Meredith places a hand on her shoulder. "What are you going to do?"

**

He's back without warning. Withdrawn. Like nothing ever happened. Owen seeks her out after the skills lab, talks about the humane thing, putting the pigs down.

He tells her about the ambush, about being in the after. He starts to walk away. She grabs his arm.

"You can't just walk away from the before, Owen. You left a part of you behind."

**

Owen sleeps in on a rare day off. Smiling sweetly, Cristina shakes his shoulder while he lies in their bed. He wakes up in a panic, limbs flailing, accidentally striking her. She flies into the wall.

**

Hours later, Cristina stares at Owen in the silence of her hospital room. "You did what?"

"I made an appointment to talk to a shrink," he says gruffly, eyes downcast, still standing. He can't look down at her, lying in the hospital bed.

"Take my hand," she orders him, reaching out. He obeys.

"I'm proud of you," she whispers, squeezing his hand. He glances at her, then.

She places his hand on her belly, then covers his hand with hers.

"We'll get through this," she promises him. "All three of us."


	3. Scenario Three

_Scenario #3_

Major Owen Hunt walks out of Seattle Grace, lost in thought. He rubs his lips and smiles - _that was a gamble, kissing that young resident, but what a payoff_.

He flags down a taxi, so he can go back to the scene of the accident and deal with his car. He settles into the back seat and loses himself in his thoughts. _What a crazy night..._

He's shaken out of his thoughts by the blare of a car horn, as the taxi sails through an intersection as a truck slides towards them. _Oh shit..._

**

He briefly wakes up in the ER. Dr Webber is leaning over him. "Couldn't stay away from us, could you, Major Hunt?"

**

He's damn lucky to have survived the crash, but he doesn't feel lucky. He can't keep track of time. His mother is there. People in uniform appear and leave.

**

Callie checks in on Cristina the next morning.

"Hey you know that Army guy from last night? He got into another accident after he left. Bad luck, huh?"

**

Cristina visits, as soon as she returns to work. His face lights up when she enters his room, and he doesn't care that she notices.

"How's your side?" Owen asks. "Stitches holding up okay?"

She smiles and gently pats her torso. "I had a very good doctor. How are you?"

"Crappy. I'm dizzy and hopped up on drugs."

There's an uncomfortable silence. They never expected to see other again.

She picks up his chart.

"Don't do that," he says.

She looks at him curiously.

"Don't be a doctor," he smiles. "All of my visitors are doctors and nurses. Except my mother."

She smirks and puts the chart down. She sits down in the chair beside his bed. "So how are you really?"

"Bored, frustrated, hating being stuck in bed." He gestures at his broken legs.

Cristina nods. "I know the feeling. I wasn't supposed to come back until tomorrow but I couldn't wait. Any idea on when you'll be walking again?"

He shrugs. "Not soon enough."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Come visit me when you can," he grins. "I'm going crazy sitting in here by myself."

**

Cristina drops by on her breaks, even eating her lunch in his hospital room. She brings him medical journals and tells him about her cases. They laugh and share stories. Childhood adventures, medical school mishaps, broken engagements. They discover they have much in common.

**

Beth arrives one afternoon, all weepy, after having run into his mother at the bank.

"At least you're safe," she manages, before dissolving into tears again.

Owen sighs. His time in Iraq has changed him in ways that Beth is incapable of comprehending. She speaks wistfully of him going back to the way he was, and it just makes him want to vomit.

Their conversation turns ugly. Beth wants another chance. She swears she can change for him. She swears she can change him back. He tries to make her understand it can't happen. It goes badly.

Their argument is interrupted when Cristina arrives at the end of her shift, with two cups of coffee. She raises an eyebrow at the weepy blonde woman in front of her.

"This is Beth Whitman, my ex-fiancee," he explains. "And this - is Cristina Yang."

Cristina hands him his coffee and then shakes Beth's proffered hand. She sits down in the chair by Owen's bed with a possessive air.

He raises an amused eyebrow at Cristina. They've been strictly platonic while he's been trapped in the hospital bed. But you wouldn't know it from the twinkle in her eyes as she looks at him.

Beth lingers, until it becomes apparent that Cristina is not leaving. She picks up her purple jacket and bids him a sad goodbye.

Owen exhales in relief and looks at Cristina. "Thank you."

She smirks and sips her coffee. "So that was Beth."

"That was Beth."

She looks at him thoughtfully. Then she stands up, closes the blinds and locks the door.

"What are you doing, Dr Yang?" He tries to appear cool but a grin escapes.

"Don't call me that, I'm not your doctor," she says smoothly. She goes to the side of his bed and lowers the rail. Then she leans over, grabs his face, and proceeds to kiss the hell out of him.

**

Cristina is tipped off by a nurse that Major Hunt has received bad news. She rushes to his room.

He's sitting alone, face carefully closed off. She locks the door and closes the blinds.

"My whole unit," he says. "Ambushed. Gone." He stares at his hands in his lap.

"I'm sorry to hear that." She walks over to his bed, lowers the rail, and climbs onto the bed with him. He reaches out and pulls her closer. She lays her head on his shoulder and waits. Eventually, he starts to shake.

**

Cristina stands on the tarmac. She watches the plane land. She watches the honor guard from afar, as the flag draped coffins are unloaded. She can't watch any more. She goes inside the terminal.

She sits down and stares at the floor. Eventually, a pair of dusty boots steps into her field of vision. She looks up.

Owen smiles down at her, tanned and tired. She leaps up and he grabs her and lifts her. She wraps her legs around his waist, grabbing at his fatigues, burying her face in his neck. He holds her tight, breathing in the smell of her hair.

"I'm done," he says. "I'm home."


End file.
